


Infinity Roads

by Sylunis



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon), No Straight Roads (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ambiguous Mayzuke and Zukeve, Angst, DJSS secretly cares but pretends not to, Found Family, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, It might get m rated at Neon J's chapter, Kliff's self destructive tendencies, LGBTQ Themes, Mayday being a mom, Neon J is korean, Neon J's screen has no signal so he's completely blind, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Personal Growth, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rare Pairings, Rating May Change, Separation Anxiety, Separations, Swearing, Tatiana being done with Kliff's bs, Warnings May Change, Yinu's mom is Master Lilan of the East
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28065954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylunis/pseuds/Sylunis
Summary: An AU where the No Straight Roads cast are passengers on the Infinity Train. Everyone has to work out their issues, and one by one they will exit the train and use what they have learned, starting from those with the least amount or problems to those with the most.
Relationships: DJ Subatomic Supernova/Neon J., Eve | Nadia/Zuke (No Straight Roads), Mayday/Zuke (No Straight Roads)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mayday and Zuke board the Infinity Train

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is meant to be a short introduction so don't expect too much out of it.

Bunk Bed Junction had just stopped the satellite from crashing into the NSR, and they were on their way back to their home in the sewers. Mayday handled Kul Fyra’s guitar with care as she pondered about the offer to join the NSR.

“Zuke, do you think we can do this?”

“I’m sure we can May, we worked so hard for that offer.”

“I know but I’m really starting to have some second thoughts, managing a district is such a huge responsibility, I never thought about it until now.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. And I’ll be there for you whichever way you choose.”

Mayday smiled a little at Zuke’s reassurance. At that moment, they both see a train pass by with green light shining out of it’s windows. The train stops with the door opening in front of the duo. Mayday approaches the door out curiosity, wondering where it leads to. “May, I don’t think we should be going in there” To Zuke’s dismay, Mayday had already stepped on the train, so he has no choice but to follow. Just then, a glowing ring coming from the door flies towards the duo, knocking them unconscious.


	2. Grouping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The duo wakes up on the train and try to find the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try my best to keep everyone as in character as possible while they go through their character growth. Also I’ve gotten a comment that this chapter is hard to read due to the formatting so expect some change to come in the future.

"Zuke, Zuke wake up!”

Zuke opened his eyes to Eve shaking him awake, he grasped his forehead and groaned. Looking to his side, he saw Mayday being woken up by DK West. The four looked around and saw that they were in a snowy field. 

“Wha-, it’s the middle of summer, we don’t get snow yet. Zuke, where are we?”

“I don’t know May.” Zuke glanced at both Eve and DK West. “Did you guys happen to find a train with green light coming from the windows?”

“We have.” Eve answered while DK West nodded in agreement. (Malay)”You two are here, so the others might be here too.” 

Everyone then noticed a green glow coming from their hands. Their palms are imprinted with a number, with even more numbers on their wrists. All except for Mayday who only has a number on her palm. “Why do we have numbers on our hands, and why is mine smaller?” Zuke was staring at his number. “Well, we better find out.” The group got up and began looking around, hoping to find answers, or maybe anything or anyone that can help them. (Malay)"I found something, come here." DK West called out. The other three approach what looks to be a snowball with a door, Mayday walks up to the door and puts her hand on the half-lemniscate shaped handle. "Well, here goes nothing." Mayday turns the handle clockwise, opening the door. The four step out and see that they on the train, the landscape is a reddish desert with ominous clouds in the sky. "Woah, are we on some sort of magic train?" Mayday looked around in awe. "It would seem so." Eve guessed as she glances at the landscape. Zuke stared at the long string of cars that are ahead. "I think we are gonna be here for a while."

The four made their way to the next car, they open the door of the car and find themselves in a college university hallway. While they walked through the hallway, Mayday had her hand on her chin as if she was thinking. 

"Hey Zuke, didn't DJ used to be a college professor?" 

"Yes, why?" 

"Do you think we could find him here?" 

Before Zuke could answer, the team hears screaming coming from a distance, they look behind and see DJ Subatomic Supernova running from creatures that look like a cross between cockroaches and dogs. "Okay, we need to get out of here!" Zuke responds in a more shocked and horrified tone. Everyone starts running down the halls with DJ following suit. "Over there!" Eve pointed in the distance, there was another door appearing exactly like the one in the snow car. They quickly open the door and made their way out of the car, slamming the door shut. "What the hell were those things, and what happened back there?" Mayday was panting. "I was trying to get off this god-forsaken train, and then these hideous abominations came after me." The DJ tried his hardest to hide the fact that he was trembling. Mayday glanced at DJ's hand, his number was higher than hers but not as high as the other three. "Hey guys, over here!" It was Tila's voice. Everyone else looked ahead and saw her along with the other Sayu kids on the other side, they also had numbers on their hands with fairly lower numbers similar to Mayday's and DJ's.

The group entered the next car which was a field full of wildflowers. Mayday turns to the direction of Zuke, Eve, and DK West. "You guys have huge numbers but everyone else has smaller ones. You think it might mean something?" Eve looks at her own hand which has the highest number out of everyone in the group so far. "I am more than certain that these numbers represent something, I don't know what it represents yet but I will soon." Soon enough the group spots Yinu and her mom in the distance. Yinu hears Mayday call out her name and notices the group, she tugs on her mom's dress and points "Mama, look!". Everyone approached the mother and daughter, Yinu had a fairly average number, but the same could not be said for her mother's, her number was covering part of her arm and it surpassed Eve's. "Mrs. Lilan, You're here too." Eve greeted. "What happened, and why are we here?" Lilan looked at Eve with a worried look. "We got dragged onto some sort of weird train" Zuke answers. "We need to keep moving, Neon J and Tatiana could be here and we need to find them." DJ's number went down a little the moment he said that, Eve caught the moment it happened and slowly connected the dots but still couldn't quite put her finger on what it meant.

Everyone exited the wildflower car and found Neon J sitting at the entrance of the next car, his numbers have engulfed his entire arm and he was silently having a breakdown. DJ and Eve carefully made their way to the other side while everyone else watched in concern. Neon J felt someone pat his shoulder recognizing the hand to be DJ's "Jae, It's me, you're going to be okay." Neon J brings his head back up, his radar is glitching due to the lack of signal on the train. Eve observed what was going on and came to the conclusion of the number's meaning "I know what they represent now." Everyone was now looking at Eve "The numbers are our inner turmoil". It all made sense now. Zuke, Eve, DK West has a large array of relationship issues going on, Lilan is suffering from the loss of her husband and her relationship with Yinu is complicated, and you can't even begin to imagine what Neon J went through in the war. "Did the train pick us up so we can fix our problems?” Mayday wondered "If we get our numbers down to zero, that means we could get off." Zuke added on. Remi stared at his number and thought about the potential state of Vinyl City "Some of us can get off early and look after the city" and continued to look at those with higher numbers "But that means you guys have to stay on longer." Tila continued "It does not feel right to leave you all behind.".

Mayday looks at Zuke "Tila's right. Your number is a lot higher than mine, and I can't just leave you like that." 

"I know... I know it's going to be hard being apart for some time, but trust me, I'm going to be okay. You wanted to get into the NSR, so maybe this could be your chance to show what you can do."

Mayday looks down at Kul Fyra's guitar, which she carried throughout the entire trip. "I got this, Vinyl City needs me."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tatiana had already woken up. She made her way through a few cars with a large number on her hand and arm, and needless to say, she was disgruntled at her predicament. "I swear I will get to the bottom of this, or so help me." as she continued forward, she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Tatiana, you're here too." Tatiana looked to her side and there he was, Kliff...

"You... What is the meaning of this!"

"I would answer that question, but I don't know either."

"You think I'm a fool? I know you're up to something!"

"I meant what I said, I got dragged onto this train aswell."

"Don't think I'm going to let you off the hook that easily, you still tried to crash the satellite into the tower. Did it ever occur to you that you could have gotten innocent people killed!"

"I told you before, I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to."

"And yet you still went through with it."

Tatiana stormed off and got out of the car as soon as she could, she wanted to be as far away from that man as much as possible. Kliff stayed behind, looking down on his own hand, his number was bigger than Tatiana's. He couldn't help but think about how things could have been different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so almost everyone is here. This will only focus on the human members of the cast so Sayu and 1010 will not be part of the main story. Tatiana and Kliff are gonna stay separated from the main group for the majority of this pic, but depending on how it goes, they might run into the group at least once or twice.


	3. Coming out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sayu team talks about their insecurities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hardly know anything about the Sayu team so this entire chapter is gonna be one big headcanon galore. They really deserve more love from the fandom than they actually have. There’s some discussion of lgbt+ stuff so take note of that, also this chapter may contain some triggers to those who have been bullied(homophobia especially) so read this with caution. Also make sure you stock up on tissues cause you’re gonna cry very hard at the ending.

The main group entered the next car after they had discussed the functions of the train, Zuke noticed that a majority of the group was growing tired from moving through all the cars "I think we should rest here for a while."

"Okay, if we are gonna get off this train, we have to talk about our problems so we can work them out." Mayday announced. Everyone was now prompted to sit down so they could discuss their issues.

Mayday turns to the direction of Zuke, Eve, DK West "You guys still have some relationship stuff going on that I don't know about, don't you?" Zuke and Eve turned away from each other a bit while DK West glanced at them both and sighed. (Malay)"We do..."

Mayday turns to DJ Subatomic Supernova "I get the feeling you're here because of your universe sized ego, but is there anything you are hiding under that?" The DJ got defensive and pointed at Mayday "I have nothing to say to you Plutonian." which made his number go up. Mayday took notice of the the change and squinted with suspicion "Right..."

She then turned to Neon J who was sitting next to DJ "You fought in a war, so I can only imagine you're going through a lot right now." Neon J couldn't see where Mayday was, but nodded in agreement anyways. "It's true, I really haven't been feeling well as of late." The war veteran then grasped his arm where the numbers were "I haven't finished the repairs on 1010, and now I don't know if I'll ever see them again." Mayday stared at his arm and remembered Eve's statement about the numbers representing inner turmoil, he had the largest number out of everyone in the group and she knew it would be a very long road for his recovery. "You'll see them again, I'm sure of it." the guitarist did her best to reassure the troubled vet.

Mayday turned to Yinu and Lilan and thought about her actions when she and Zuke hijacked their concert "I know you two have a lot of family problems going on, but did the hijacking have something to do with what you're going through?" she asked with a more sincere tone. The mother and daughter looked at each other for a moment and then back at Mayday. "That piano was Yinu's last gift from her father before he passed." Lilan answers with a hurt expression on her face. Everyone stared in shock at the revelation while Mayday gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh... I am so very sorry..." Mayday felt an extreme amount of guilt knowing that not only did she break Yinu's piano, she broke what child had left from her deceased father. Lilan could tell that the guitarist was being genuine about her apology, so she decides to reassure her. "You weren't aware of it, I understand. You did help fix it, It's more than enough for both of us and I'm glad you've come clean about it". Mayday felt a little better after hearing that she had been forgiven and glanced at her hand, her number went down and so did Yinu's and Lilan's.

Mayday turns around to face the Sayu kids who were sitting close to her. "I don't think I know too much about you guys other than trying to balance your normal life and your NSR work, Is there anything else going on?" The four felt a bit shy opening up to other people, they were always open with each other, but anyone outside of their group was out of the comfort zone. Eventually Dodo spoke up first "Well, it's about my dad. He used to be a musician, and he's always reminiscing about the "glory days". I don't know if I can live up to his name, he doesn't even know that I'm part of the Sayu team." Remi then had his turn to talk about himself "I could talk about how I have to be the responsible one as leader, but thats a bit obvious I guess..." he then turned to look at Eve "There's a bit more going on though, but it's mostly artist stuff." Sofa was much more hesitant than the other two, but nonetheless mustered the courage to talk about what he's going through "Everyone looks at me and thinks I'm a shut in who lives in his basement, I want to prove that I'm more that what people think of me." Mayday took one look at Tila and realized she hasn't seen her number because of her long sleeves. "Hey Tila, is there anything you want to say?" Tila looked down at her sleeve where her number should be and hesitated for a moment "N-no... I'm not ready." Mayday knew something was up, but decided not to press for answers "It's fine, we can talk about it later."

Zuke thought about what Dodo said about his dad and remembered the retired musician that he and Mayday met, they both looked eerily similar "Hey Dodo, are you related to Retdex by any chance?" Dodo was surprised that Zuke had met his dad, but nonetheless nodded anyways. Zuke continued on, giving Dodo a pep talk.

Eve watched Zuke and Dodo have a discussion and then turned her gaze towards Remi. She stood up, walked to the younger artist, and kneeled down to his level.

"I have noticed that you looked to me when you mentioned art." 

"Yeah, I'd figured you'd help me on that."

"What is it that you wish to speak about?"

Remi opened up to Eve about his experiences in art school, he had been rejected a various number of times due to the fact that the school didn't consider his anime drawings to be real art. Eve was shocked and angered at how he was treated.

"This is nonsense, those people are nothing more than pedestrians to turn you away like that. It is their loss that they cannot recognize your talent."

Remi felt that her response was a bit harsh, but was thankful anyways that she stood up for him "Thank you Eve."

After the two boys had talked about their issues, they found that their numbers had gone down. Tila looked at the two and then at her own hand and sighed sadly, she felt someone touch her shoulder and looked up to see Mayday. "Hey, you look tired, let's get some rest."

* * *

Time has passed and the team was now in another car, Neon J was mentoring Dodo to use a sword to pass the time.

"Do you remember what I taught you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, there is no signal on this train, which means my radar cannot function. I may be at a disadvantage but I have long prepared for a situation like this."

The war veteran and the mocap actor took fighting stances.

"Now show me what you got soldier!"

While the two dueled, Mayday looked around, wondering where Tila was "Hey, where's Tila? We were supposed to talk today." Mayday turned towards Sofa who also wondered where she was "I'm going to go find her." the programer responds and walks away to find Tila. after a few minutes of searching, Sofa found her. He walked in to see Tila with her sleeve down, her number was at 5882. The programer just stood there and stared in shock by what he saw, his number was somewhat high but hers was even higher "Have you been hiding this the whole time?" Tila knew she had been caught, she pulls her sleeve back up quickly "I know... I'm an even bigger disaster than you guys thought." The voice actress shot back, causing her already high number to go even higher even though it was already covered by her sleeve. Sofa, along with the other boys knew what Tila had going on in her head, but didn't know it was this bad "Tila, please... you can't keep hiding this, your number is only going to get worse." 

Tila grasped her head, unpleasant memories from her middle school years began to flood in. "N-no... NOOOO!!! I CAN'T DO THIS AGAIN!!"

Tila got up and ran off, running past the main group, Sofa gave chase, but was struggling to keep up "Tila wait!" while Tila was running away, she winds up snagging her sleeve on something, tearing it off and exposing her number for all to see. The snag makes her lose her balance and she falls to the ground, the young girl curls up and grabs her knee while wincing in pain. Everyone had already got a clear look at her number, but Mayday got up and ran to help. "Holy crap are you okay?" The guitarist helped the young girl sit up, her knee had been scraped. Sofa rushed to the scene, carrying the sleeve that had been torn off, he kneels down and uses it to wrap Tila's injury. Mayday looked around and saw that everyone had gathered around out of concern, the guitarist then looked back at Tila who was getting increasingly nervous by the large crowd "I think you guys should leave us alone for a while." The rest of the group made their way out of the car, all except for DJ who stood at the door so he can wait for the others, unbeknownst to Mayday and the Sayu team. "You don't have to tell everyone, It's just me and your team right now." Mayday comforted Tila.

Tila looked at Mayday and the boys and began to tear up “When Eve figured out what the numbers meant, I looked at my hand and saw that my number was very high.” Tila curled up into a ball and started sobbing “I am so scared for you guys to leave, I want to get better but I don’t know if I can do it without you.” 

Sofa couldn't stand to see his friend cry like that, so he grabs her and pulls her into a hug “We won’t leave you behind, we’re going to get your number down and we’ll do it together.” Remi and Dodo also join in on the hug. “I know this is super personal to you so you don’t have to say it if you don’t want to.” Remi reminded Tila, remembering Mayday's statement about talking about her issues later “No no- I think I’m ready now.” Tila assured Remi, now feeling ready to open up about her feelings.

“I-I I like girls...” Tila stutters with hesitation, Mayday looked at her in surprise “Oh, you’re a lesbian?" The guitarist was intrigued, but then her expression changed to that of concern “Were you bullied for it, is that why your number is so high?” Tila nods slowly, Mayday thought for a moment and then jumped in to share her experiences “If it makes you feel better, I like guys and girls." Tila looked up, feeling genuinely shocked by the response "You've seen me swoon over Sayu and 1010 haven't you?" Mayday added. The four teenagers and the guitarist then looked back to see DJ staring, he had been at the door the entire time waiting, and he also heard everything. “What? I’m bi. You got a problem with that?” Mayday was ready to defend Tila and herself, but the DJ gestures them to not worry “I’m not the type to give you grief over whom you love." he then continues in a more quiet tone "Admittedly I do have someone to my liking myself.” Mayday hears what he said and puts two and two together “Let me guess, it’s Neon J.” DJ jumped in surprise at how quickly she figured it out "What! no I-" before he could finish his sentence, Mayday interrupts him, not wanting to listen to any excuses “I’m not stupid DJ, I’ve seen you two close to each other.” DJ was unable to come up with a comeback, and thus admits defeat “Ugh... fine, you got me.”

Mayday turned back to Tila to see how she was doing "You feel better now?"

"Yes, very..."

Everyone looks down to see that Tila's number had gone down drastically, it was now closer to the boys' numbers than it was before. Mayday stood up and helps the young girl get back on her feet “Great, we are making progress, you four will be off the train in no time." Everyone was now making their way to the car's exit and Tila was feeling relieved to get her feelings off her chest. "I think I might come out to the others too." 

"Take your time, you can come out whenever you feel ready." Mayday continued to reassure her, she was ready to support Tila all the way through.

"By the way, Tatiana is a lesbian too." Mayday added to lighten Tila's mood, prompting the young voice actress to look back in surprise "Wait, really?"

"Yes, really. She has always been open about her sexuality when the Goolings were still around, and she even dated a member of the band." Mayday continued to give fun facts about Kul Fyra "She even inspired me to be open about mine."

"Do you think she can help me when she comes back?" Tila asks after giving it some thought "Im sure she'd be more than happy to." Mayday quickly responds.

One by one, Tila slowly came out to the rest of the group, each one of them giving them their support. Neon J confirms that he and DJ do in fact have a thing for each other, and mentions that he coded 1010 to include male fans in his later career. Eve was inspired to come out herself, talking about her experiences of being transfeminine. Tila was the most hesitant coming out to Lilan, but the mother too supported her. Lilan opened up about how she wasn't the best mother, but from now on, she is going to support Yinu no matter what. By that point the Sayu Team's numbers had reached zero, summoning a door back to Akusuka. The door's presence caused Neon J's radar to pick back up again. "I can't believe that actually worked." The Sayu team now turned to the direction of everyone else.

"Well, good luck you guys." Dodo waved goodbye and made his way through the door.

"We'll do our best to look after Vinyl City, we're gonna prepare the back up energy in case we need it." Remi followed after Dodo.

Tila looked at the door, but then turned around to hug Mayday "Thank you, for everything." Mayday had a tender smile on her face and hugged back. Sofa wrapped Tila's arm around him and helped her walk towards the door, he turned around to look at everyone one last time "Take care of each other, okay?" The two made their way off the train with the door closing behind them. After the Sayu team had left, Mayday thought about how closely they stuck to each other the entire time, thoughts of hesitation about whether or not she can leave Zuke behind began to flood her head.

The group now exited the car they were previously in and they were now making their way to the next one, suddenly a green light passed by, encircling the cars. "What was that?" Mayday caught wind at what had just occurred, just then the bridge connecting the two cars together disconnects, splitting the group up. Mayday, DJ Subatomic Supernova, and Yinu were on one side, and Zuke, Eve, DK West, Neon J, and Lilan were on the other. "MAMA!!!" Yinu cried out, Mayday was holding her back so that she doesn't fall off the train "YINU, NOOOOOO!!!" Lilan reached out in tears to no avail, Neon J held her back so she too doesn't fall. Mayday and Zuke could only stare at each other in distress as they were being torn apart. The car that Mayday, DJ, and Yinu were on begins to rise "Oh no this is bad, this is very very bad!" Mayday began to panic while clutching onto Yinu "May, we need to-" DJ was unable to finish his sentence before the car was sent to the other side of the train at high speed.

* * *

In another car, Kliff took the time to research what the train is and what it's purpose was. He figured out that the train was built to help passengers fix their problems, and the numbers represent the passenger's problems. Kliff looked at his arm and felt like there was no going back on what he had done, but there is something else he can do, he will drag Tatiana down with him. Kliff pulls some strings and is able to obtain some memory extracting tape bots, he is now slowly putting his plan into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance for separating Yinu and her mom, its all gonna work out in the next chapter so please don't kill me. Oh yeah, and Kliff is about to do something stupid.


	4. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unlikely duo tries to make it back to their group while caring for Yinu, DJSS shares his backstory(and Mayday shares a little bit of hers too), and May prepares for the responsibilities of working under the NSR.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, it’s platonic rarepair time. Also someone’s gonna get a makeover. Also do note that there’s a tiny bit of swearing in this, but only the s bomb.

The train car was now moving at a fast rate, the momentum caused Mayday and Yinu to slide off the platform, only for for DJ to catch them both with one hand while he held onto the door with the other. The DJ knew they could not be on the car any longer, lest they be miles away from their group, so he quickly made his decision.

“We are going to jump off!”

”What! Are you cra-AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

Mayday could not finish her sentence before DJ leapt off the car, taking her and Yinu with him. The DJ used his body to shield both girls from the impact, crash landing on top one of the train cars, he laid there in pain from the impact with his head cracked. “Ugh... Who even designed this contraption.” Not a second later Yinu begins to cry in distress over being separated from her mother, all while her number began to rise, the roses in her hair had been blown off and were now replaced with thorns much like her mother’s. Mayday sat up and tried her best to console the crying child.

"I WANT MY MAMA!!!"

"We'll go get her, It's going to be oka-"

"I’LL BE REALLY REALLY GOOD, I PROMISE, I WONT DO ANYTHING BAD, EVER!!"

Mayday became heartbroken over what Yinu had said, it was evident that all the expectations put on the child has come crashing down and now she felt as if everything was her fault.

"No, Yinu. It doesn't have anything to do with you being good or bad, sometimes things happen that are out of our control. It's not your fault, okay?"

The thorns on Yinu's head had stopped growing, she looked up at Mayday with tears in her eyes. 

"Just take deep breaths."

Mayday gave Yinu breathing exercises to help calm her down. The thorns slowly dissipated, leaving long wavy hair that was similar to her father's. The child's number stabilized back to normal, but is still higher than it was earlier. Mayday turns towards DJ to check if he was okay.

"Hey DJ, you alright?"

"I need a moment, I broke something..."

While Mayday waited for DJ to recover from falling, she touched her head and felt that all but one of her hair ties had fallen out due to being blown off by the speeding car, she pulls out the remaining hair tie and uses it to braid Yinu's hair. DJ sat up after he was done recovering and notices the change in hairstyles.

"You two look, different... In a good way."

"Aww... thats the nicest thing you've said so far." Mayday lightly teases him while the DJ huffs in response, the guitarist then noticed the crack in his head.

"DJ, you're cracked."

"I'll be fine as long as it doesn't completely shatter."

Everyone got up and carefully made their way onto the car's platform, Mayday carried Yinu while following DJ into the next car ahead.

"The others should be coming in our direction, we'll see them soon enough if we keep going."

"Hey DJ, you saw the green light right before the cars split didn't you?"

"I noticed."

Mayday finished her short discussion with DJ and looked down at her hand, it had gone back up to a higher number as a result of being separated from Zuke.   
  
“Man... I miss Zuke so much.” Mayday sighed sadly, Yinu hugged Mayday in an attempt to cheer her up, relating to what she said.

* * *

The trio had walked for hours through several cars, both Mayday and Yinu were running out of energy for walking this long and were struggling to keep up with DJ. “Ugh... DJ, can we stop? I’m soooooo tired!” Mayday complained. “Be quiet, we still have a long way to go.” DJ gritted in annoyance. Just then, Mayday’s legs gave out, cause her to collapse to the ground. DJ stopped, looked back, and saw Yinu struggling to pull Mayday back up. “Fine, we’ll stop.”

The three settled in the mall car to rest, Mayday had a lot questions, given that DJ was still functioning after walking for so long through several cars.

“How the heck do you not get tired, are you even human?”

”I am not bound by human limitations.”

”Hey, that doesn’t answer my question! Are you human or not?”

Mayday continued to press for an answer, and eventually DJ gave in.

”I was, once...”

That got both Mayday and Yinu interested, they wanted to know even more about the space DJ.

”Hey, can you tell us about how you got your space head thingy?”

”Why would you want to know?”

”Oh come on, you’re all about long speeches and lectures are you not?”

The DJ took a few moments to take Mayday’s request into consideration, he could not pass up an opportunity to give a long speech about himself, but it was something very personal to him, something that brought unpleasant memories. It wouldn't hurt to open up a little, right?

_”Back then, when I still taught at Vinyl City University, I was a mere simple human like all of you. I have been pondering ways to combine my two passions of space and melody. My solution was to become a member of the NSR, but before that, something happened that would change my life forever. On one night, I had calculated that there would be a meteor shower, so I returned to my little town where I could watch the meteorites light the night sky, but I couldn’t have predicted that one would end up hitting me directly. After I had returned from my visit to the hospital, I found that I had power over all the cosmos. At first I was ecstatic over my newfound power, but over time, it would begin to consume my mind in a figurative sense and in a literal sense. In order to keep myself anchored to reality, I had to give up a part of myself.”_

Mayday and Yinu both looked at the DJ in shock over what he went through.

”Oh man... that must have been rough. Come here, you need a hug.”

Mayday and Yinu got up and proceeded to hug DJ. The DJ just sat there in surprise, it took him a few moments to process a response given that he has the affection of a rock.

“This is a one time thing, understand?”

”Aww come on, you needed this, you’re just too prideful to admit it.”

Mayday lightly teases him once again, DJ could have easily pried the two girls off of him, but let them both continue hugging for a few minutes. After those minutes passed, the DJ finally stood up. 

“You two get some rest, I would like some time to myself.”

DJ walked away so that he could collect his thoughts, he looked at his hand and saw that his number went down as a result of opening up. The DJ began to view the graffiti on the walls, they were remnants of a group known as the Apex that had settled in the mall car prior to the trio’s arrival. One particular graffiti caught DJ’s attention, it was a specific date.

“August 25, 2020. Hm... interesting, this graffiti has been here for 268 years.”

Meanwhile, Mayday couldn’t help but notice that Yinu was having trouble sleeping, so she went up to check if she was okay.

"Hey Yinu, you doing ok there?"

"I... I just miss Mama so much."

"I understand... I miss Zuke a lot. And even though DJ won't admit it, I'm pretty sure he misses Neon J."

"I miss her, but she hurt me..."

"Sometimes, you're gonna have some complicated feelings about your parents. I know I have, and that's okay. The truth is, I wasn't always a rebellious rockstar, I used to come from a really prestigious family. I never really got to sort things out with my parents, but you still have a chance to with your mom, It's up to you whether or not you want things to get better."

Mayday pulled Yinu into a hug, holding her until she fell asleep. Eventually, DJ came back and found Mayday asleep aswell. He had spent his alone time staring at his number and thinking about Neon J, just like Mayday, he was worried about leaving the only person he ever cared about behind because of how different their numbers were. He had lost Neon J once from the border war, he didn't want to lose him again.

* * *

Yinu woke up and looked to see that Mayday was still asleep and that DJ was absent, feeling that there was nothing else to do, she decided to go outside for a short period of time to get some fresh air. Yinu opened the door and found that the train had stopped. The child looked around at the landscape and noticed a tree in the distance, curiosity piqued within leading Yinu at the edge of the platform to take a closer look. Yinu saw that there were creatures near the tree, but couldn’t quite discern what they were, she leaned closer and ended up falling off the edge and onto the ground. This caught the attention of the creatures they began to pursue the fallen child, they were the same creatures that DJ encountered when he tried to leave the train, Yinu froze in fear over what was headed towards her. Just then, Yinu felt someone pull her back up onto the train by her coat, DJ had pulled her up using his arm stretching abilities.

”What on earth are you doing!”

”I’m sorry, it was an accident!”

DJ wasted no time getting back into the mall car while carrying Yinu, but couldn’t close the door on time, allowing the gohm to wedge itself halfway into the door. Mayday ran up to them to see what what going on “Oh my god! What happened?” DJ could not answer as the gohm successfully wedged it’s way in, allowing two others to follow as well. Mayday and DJ began fending off two of the gohms, but the third one began chasing Yinu, prompting her to cry for help. The gohm pounced on Yinu and attempted to suck her life out, Mayday witnessed what was happening and feared for Yinu’s life, causing her to burst into flames as if she was Kul Fyra. The flaming guitarist charged at the gohms and chased them out the door, DJ and Yinu watched in shock and disbelief at what they were seeing.

”Mayday, you’re on fire!”

”Yeah yeah, that was cool.”

”No, you are literally on fire!”

Upon hearing DJ’s warning, Mayday looked at herself and freaked out. “HOLY SHIT I’M ON FIRE!!!” she frantically patted her body in an attempt to put the fire out, causing the flames to quickly dissipate. ”I have Kul Fyra’s powers, I can’t believe it!” her fangirling was cut short when she turned around and bore witness to DJ harshly lecturing Yinu.

”What is wrong with you! Do you have any idea how much danger you put us all in?! You could have gotten yourself killed!”

Yinu was beginning to tear up over being chewed out, Mayday quickly ran up and pulled the child into a protective hug.

”DJ stop, that’s enough!”

”Mayday, you have no idea how dangerous those things are. They almost killed me and they were going to do the same to Yinu.”

”How could she have known they were dangerous? She didn't even know these things existed.”

DJ just stood there in silence, Mayday grasped Yinu’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. ”I’m sorry Yinu, we should have been more honest to you about anything dangerous that could be out there. We didn't want you to be scared, but it only put you in more danger. You at least deserve to know how to keep yourself safe.” Mayday stood up while Yinu continued to sit there, hanging her head in shame. The guitarist approached DJ and tugged on his shirt to pull him to her level. “You two need to talk things out, I need to be alone for a bit.” The DJ nodded in hesitation, Mayday let go of him and walked away, trying to process what had just happened. DJ looked back at Yinu who still had tears in her eyes due to being yelled at, he knew he was going to be in trouble if he didn't do anything about it.

"DJ, do you hate me?"

"What? No, don't think that."

"Everyone got hurt because of me."

"Don't blame yourself, Mayday was..."

"Right?"

Yinu had to finish DJ's sentence for him, it was extremely out of his comfort zone to admit when someone else is right.

”Listen Yinu, I can’t afford to have anything happen to you... Lilan will have my head.”

DJ tried his best to hide any form of care he was developing, he didn't even want to care. Yinu could see right through his excuse, even though it was reasonable to fear Lilan, knowing how she is. A few minutes later, Mayday came back with a new look, she had cut her hair into a short bob.

”Whew, I feel a lot better now.”

”May, you cut your hair?”

“Yeah... I thought I could use a new look.”

”Well, It’s a good look for you.”

Mayday smiled at DJ’s compliment and decided not to tease him about it. Not a moment later, the door at the other side of car opens, the other members of the group made it.

“Mama!”

“Yinu, my dear, you’re okay!”

Yinu ran to hug Lilan, the mother held onto one of the roses that fell out of Yinu’s hair and put it back to where it belonged. Mayday also ran to hug Zuke aswell.

“May, you got a haircut? It looks amazing on you.”

”Thanks Zuke, I’ve been meaning to try a new look for a while now.”

Mayday looked at her number and saw that it very close to reaching zero. She suddenly remembered that she was going to end up leaving early and looked at Zuke with a slightly more troubled look.

”I came so far to see you again, and now I have to leave...”

”May, don’t worry about me okay? The sooner we all get off the train, the better it will be for Vinyl city. I need to sort out my relationship with my brother and Eve on my own, you need to take care of the Sayu kids and the city. Promise me you’ll do it.”

”I promise...”

Mayday’s number reached zero and a door to the plaza opened in front of the group, the guitarist looked back up at the drummer and began to tear up, they both hugged again one last time. “It’s okay May, you’ll do great.” Zuke teared up aswell, knowing he isn’t going to see his friend in a long time. Mayday slowly walked to the door, she looked to see her friend one more time before returning to Vinyl City.

* * *

Upon returning to Vinyl City, Mayday saw that everything had descended into chaos, even worse than than when the NSR had been hijacked. She quickly ran to Akusuka and arrived at the Sayu team's apartment complex. As she made her way to the team's apartment room, she could hear the teenagers panicking from behind the door. Mayday proceeded to knock on the door as hard as she could so that the team could hear her. "Guys, its me May!" The panicking stopped, shortly followed by Tila answering the door.

"May, you're back!"

"What the hell happened here? Everything is a mess!"

"The city found out that everyone is gone."

"Man... I knew something was gonna go wrong, but I didn't know it was gonna be this bad."

"We tried everything to calm everyone down but nothing is working!"

"Don't worry, I know what to do."

Mayday and the Sayu team went back to the plaza, every single citizen there had fallen into a massive state of panic. Mayday ran up to the grand qwasa, got out Kul Fyra's guitar, and strummed loudly to get everyone's attention.

"EVERYONE STOP!!!"

The citizens stopped in place and looked back at Mayday.

_"I get it, all of you are scared out of your mind that everyone's gone right now, but running around and panicking isn't gonna help. Tatiana promised that the NSR is going to rebuilt from the ground up and give everyone the chance to perform, but change doesn't happen overnight. Things can happen out of our control and not everything will run the way we want to, but as long as we set our minds on our goals, we can reach them no matter what. The NSR's absence won't last forever, but right now they can't help us, we need to help ourselves. If we all work together, we can make this city thrive again. I'm taking Tatiana's offer to join the NSR, and I'll do everything to make sure Vinyl City stays in one piece."_

* * *

Tatiana continued to cross through several cars, she intended to reach the engine to confront whoever the conductor was. Once again she heard Kliff's voice, but didn't turn to look at him.

"There you are Tatiana, you're quite hard to keep up with."

"I thought I made it clear that I want you far away from me!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, we still have so much to talk about."

"What do you want."

"Maybe crashing the satellite was a bad move on my part, but it's not like you're a saint either. You still had Vinyl City under your oppressive regime with the ban on rock and the blackouts."

Tatiana didn't take what Kliff had said well. He didn't seem to care whether or not the people lived or died, and here he was not taking it seriously, as if crashing the satellite into the NSR tower and potentially putting civilians in danger was simply a "bad move". At this rate, the CEO was done with the ex fan's nonsense and she began to light herself on fire from pure rage.

"YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT-"

Tatiana turned around and was met with a blinding flash, sending her into a state of unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mayday has temporarily taken Tatiana’s place to look after Vinyl city and got the bisexual haircut. And yeah, No straight roads takes place in the far future in my headcanons, it takes place in the year 2288. I hope DJSS isn't too ooc in this, he’s pretty easy enough to write giving he’s basically an egotist with a love for space, but boy it’s difficult when it’s about learning how to improve as a person. He’ll have his arc in the next chapter though.


End file.
